I got the inspiration for these [tag]free baseball conditioning drills[/tag] from William. Try them out and let me know what you think!
From William”¦
My idea isn’t really so much a [tag]baseball[/tag] [tag]drill[/tag] but it’s a way to take advantage of [tag]warm-ups[/tag]. Keep in mind I’m dealing with 12 year olds but I’ll bet many of the same aspects apply.
1) We run what we call squares. Think of a square the distance is up to you. 1st length we [tag]sprint[/tag]. 2nd length we practice the cross over step as if we were stealing then keep going along cross over step until we reach second, 3rd length we sprint, 4th length we [tag]jog[/tag]. We do this 4 times to get out hearts pumping
2) Then we [tag]stretch[/tag] out arms and legs. — I’m sure you know all the proper techniques
3) Then we toss the ball
4) Lastly what we call the Quarterback Drill
Each kid takes a ball. Half on one side of the OF half on the other. 2 coaches in the middle. The kids throw the ball to the [tag]coach[/tag] and begin to run toward him. Coach rolls a grounder. Kid flips back to coach. He should be about even with the coach now. A kid continues his run and runs a football pattern coach throws ball as a QB would throwing him a pass. The kid is now on other side of OF and he gets in the other line to run towards the second coach. Around and around they go.
It’s great warm-up. Gets the hearts pumping. The kids are practicing one long [tag]throw[/tag] to coach in the middle. Picking up a [tag]grounder[/tag] and most importantly for me is catching the fly ball over their heads with the QB throw.
At this age kids have trouble judging fly balls and running with their gloves down etc. Great way to [tag]practice[/tag] this. Even with older kids I’d bet it would be a way to get in running with a little extra excitement. Also allows for jogging and then a quick sprint catching the fly ball which is also good practice for older athletes.